CMN Photo by D. Kakkak CMN professor Cyndi Pyatskowit, left, reviews a selection of children’s books with Tina Shawano, of the Menominee Community Health Department, and Brian Kowalkowski, dean of continuing education at the college.
A visit to the doctor’s office has a special bonus for Menominee children, thanks to a project launched this fall by the College of Menominee Nation’s Teacher Education Program.
Newborns to 8-year-olds having checkups or immunizations at the Menominee Tribal Clinic are now leaving with age-appropriate books for their at-home libraries. Parents get brochures explaining how to help even the youngest child get a head start on language acquisition and reading.
The goal, CMN professor Cyndi Pyatskowit said, is to encourage and support a culture of literacy and learning in the Menominee community. Pyatskowit, chairwoman of CMN’s Teacher Education Program, notes that the new project continues the work of the Sacred Little Ones Family Engagement Initiative, now in its fifth year at the college.
The Menominee Tribal Clinic’s community health and medical departments are partnering with CMN on the new project. Partners on earlier projects have included Menominee Indian Head Start, Menominee Tribal School and Keshena Primary School.
The Sacred Little Ones project has also led children’s literacy activities at the S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/Menominee Public Library on the Keshena campus, including College 4 Kids sessions held weekly throughout the 2014-2015 academic year.
“We have been especially focused on helping parents, grandparents and others who interact with very young children with simple ways to introduce their children to the joys of reading, and to help them bring books into their homes,” Pyatskowit said. “Research has shown that the vast majority of students who demonstrate reading proficiency say they had books available to read at home. When we know that a relatively consistent proxy for ‘parental commitment to education’ is the number of books in the home, we think one of the keys to helping kids become readers is to help families have a home library.”
To date, the CMN Sacred Little Ones initiative has purchased and distributed about 2,500 books. Hundreds will go for distribution in the Menominee Tribal Clinic project. Many others have been shared in the College 4 Kids program, at the Eagle’s Nest shelter in Neopit and placed in the Little Free Library book boxes on the Menominee Reservation.
Project coordinator Kelli Chelberg said the books cover a wide range of titles, including fiction, nonfiction, seasonal, hardcover and informational.
“Some are picture and simple-word board books suitable for the very youngest children who are beginning to develop language skills,” Chelberg said. “Others are designed for pre-kindergarten children and beginning readers. The educational brochure that comes along with the book has suggestions for ways the parent or other adult can engage the child in positive ways that will pay off as both a bonding experience and an incentive for further learning.”
College of Menominee Nation students in teacher education classes are also being engaged in Sacred Little Ones activities through assignments to develop some simple, fun activities that can accompany a number of the books distributed at well-child clinic visits.
Sacred Little Ones projects are funded with W.K. Kellogg Foundation grants to CMN through the American Indian College Fund. The college is also providing support to the book project through a U.S. Department of Education Limited English Proficiency Grant.